Refrigerated food cabinet



I L 1,527,156 Feb' 17 1925 J. R. REPLOGLE l REFRIGERATED FOOD CABINET Original Filed Jul'y 21,.1922 g 5heets 5heet 1 Y 'N' /NvE/vroe: QS

ATMNEK Feb, I7, 1925.

J. R. REFLOGLEh REFRIGERATED POQD CABINET @riginal Filed July 21. 1,922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Feb. 17, 1925.

teams@ COMPANY, DETROIT, MICHIGAN,A CORPORATION 0F MICHGAH.

REFRIGEEATED FOOD` CABINET.

Original application led July 21, 1922, Serial The invention relates to refrigerating cab?,

-inets for food and the like and particularly to 'arform -of food cabinet having abrine tank with one or more food chambers disposed therein so as to be surrounded and cooled by the brine, the present application being a division of my co-pending application Serial No. 576,477, filed July 2l, 1922, upon which has been granted Letters Fatent Y The chiefobject of the invention is to so constructthe walls of the cabinet casing, the

brine tank and the food chamber or chambers that stresses incident to .the reception in the food chambers of food or food containers are principally sustained by the casing structure and not by the brine tank and food chamber structure.

A further object is to provide, in a structure such as last referred to, means to pre vent. access ,of liquid to the heat-insulating walls of thc casing, incident to defrosting of the cold walls of the food chambers, or the like. Y Other objects that are incident or ancillary to those above mentioned willappear in the' following description. which sets forth a preferred embodiment of the invention. 40 In the drawings, Fig. l is a plan view of my improved cabinet with-some of the parts :broken awayand some shown in section.'

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the broken line 2--2, Fig. ,1., Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary section on the same plane as Fig. 2, parts being broken yaway to permit illustration on the large scale.l

Referring in detail tothe construction 5.0 illustrated, the cabinet comprises -a unitaryl I, iframe with top and bottom walls Lland 5,

iside-walls 6 and '7, end walls 8 'and 9 and a vertical partition 1G which divides the cabinet two compartments, One of the November 8, 1923.v

`the bottom Vthe-impact and the weight the heavy cans of ice cream and there isnntendency `toy 119.576,41?. Divided an@ uns appucantasiea Serial No. 673,899.

extrgrior'lateral walls of the smaller com The larger 'of the two compartments of4 Athe. cabinet has its bottom, side and end walls lined with heatinsulating material l1. This insulating material may be of any suitable character but I have found cork board most satisfactory. 'lhe cork boards 11 constitute in effect part of the walls of the cabinet. Within these heat-insulating walls is arranged a sheet metal brine tank l2 which rcferably rests upon` a shallow sheet. meta pan 13 which is supported by insulation il. The tank i2 has vertical side and end walls 12"- and top and bottom walls l2", 12t The top and bottom walls are apertnred'to receive 'the' ends of two pairs 'of vertical sleeves la, la and l5,

15a, the ends of the sleeves beine connect-ed e liquid-tight in order to hold the brine. While an important function of the ioints at theV tops of vthe sleeves is to brace the latter, I prefer that the top joints as well. as the bottom one should be liqiiid-tight in order to obviats leakage of brine in casethe latter is splashed in moving the cabinet. As shown, the sleeves 14, l5, l5 are cylindrical while the sleeve 14a has straight sides with rounded corners. The vertical sleeves are ,PArEN'r cremaou t' Joann .mLoeLn or nn'rnorr, mouwen, nssrenon ro mann Lnuoaamnrns "pa ment, preferably the end wall 9 in the form of a removable panel secured by screws or the like.

a; als said nnkvwans with inne-tight oints.` It is essential that the bottom walls designed to form chambers or receptacles to receive cans of bulk ice cream, say tive-gal` lon cans, orat least the sleeves 14, l5, itigl are so .designed The fiat-sided sleeve l@ isfso made to better` accommodate brick ice cream. To take the impactand sustain the weight'of the heavy cans of ice cream lowered i to the sleeves each of them is preferably provided at itsl lower end with a relatively heavy sheet metal pan 18 which rests upon the pan 13. ,Since the pan 13 in turn rests upon the'bottom wall of the cabinet, said wall inrcality bears the weight of the. ice cream and containers in4 the food chambers and consequently the walls of the b rine tank and the joints thereof are relieved .of such stresses as wculd'result from 1 open up the li sleeves 14, 14

l noted here that While,

with apertures that register with the several sleeves and each sleeve is fitted at its upper end with guiding or protecting thimbles 19,

'20.' Each of the top Wallapertures of the or surrounded by lty and convenience,

"brine throughout this application any pressor 27 offthe reciprocating suitable means.

.by suitable .Suitable o ne of the known anti-freezing solutions or liquids can be used, and the term brine should be read in a correspondingly broad and comprehensive sense. In so far asthe present invention is concerned the brine in the tank 12 can be cooled by any In the construction illustrated the pair of sleeves 14, 14El are spaced from the pair of sleeves 15, 15L to provide room for an evaporator or vaporizer designated in its entirety by 23. This evaporator` is ,like that of the refrigeration apparatus disclosed in my pending' U. S. application Serial No. 475,344, tiled June 6, 1921, and Letters Patent of France No. 547,971, to which reference may showing and description of the evaporator, and also of the compressor-condenser mechanism which is associated with it. For

e purpose ofthe present invention it is sufficient to note that the evaporator comprises a header 24 and a series of depend- .ing pipe loops or circulating tubes 25, the major part of the evaporator being Sublnerged in the brine. One end of the header is fornirci by the head casting 24n having a flange 24 which is connected with a liquid-tight joint to the adjacent side Wall of the tank 12 at the periphery ot' an aperture through said wall by bolts or rivets, as shown in Fig. 1.

he compressor and condenser mechanism, which is designated in its entirety by 26, is mounted in th 'i' ialler compartment of the cabinet. Th'l icchanism comprises a com piston type the crank shaft. of Which is driven by an electric motor 28 having its armature shaft arranged vertically to driveihe crank shaft of the compressor through suitable worm gearing. On `'the fian'ged top of the crank case 29 'of the compressor is mounteda condenser dome 30 -within which are disposed water-cooled coils (not shown). The interior of the condenser dome 30 is connected conduits (not shown) to a tube 33 which connects with the head 24u of the vaporizer header, thel passage Waybein controlled by a float-actuated valve dispose be had for a detailed d `the temperature of the food chambers within the header as shown and described in my pending application, Serial No. 475,344, and my Letters Patent of IFrance No. 547,971, above mentioned. The vapor space in the upper part of the header 24 is connected by a tube 34 with the interior of the crank case 29 through al hollow boss or attachment 29 on the side of said crank case. The compressor crank case, the condenser dome 30, vaporizer 23 with the connecting' tubes 33 charged `some suitable working medium, such as sulfur dioxide. lVhen the compressor` is operated by the motor 28 the sulfur dioxide gas is drawn and 34 constitute. a closed A.system into whichv is -from the crank case, compressed anddisrefrigerant gas then flows through the tube 33 into the vaporizer where itvvaporizes and absorbs. heat from the brine and thereafter in a gaseous state returns through the tube 34 to the crank case 29 of the compressor.

The compressor is' automatically startedand stopped by pressure controlled mechanism which actuates 'a switch to connect and disconnect the driving motor 28 and, preferably, an electro-magnetic valve -Which controls the iiow of Water through the conenser. As any suitable control mechanism may be employed in so far as my presentv invention is concerned that indicated in the` drawings need not be further rei'erredto. For a full disclosure and description of the mechanism reference may be had to' my' aforesaid copending applications Serial Nos. 576,477 and 475,344, and to the aforesaid French Patent No. 547,971.

refrigerated ice cream cabinet con-` structcd and fitted as described is capable of maintaining its food chambers at uniformly low temperatures for in'deiinite periods with minimum attention. As soon 'as the brine surrounding This liquelied rises above 'a certain point the pressure in the vaporizer header N 24 starts-the motor of the compressor and thisWitl'fgdravvsthe vaporized gas inthe vaporizer alud compresses and liqueiies it, and the lqweingg'of the pressure in the vaporizer immediitely:increases the rate of vaporization therein with the the temperature:- As soon as the tempera-- ture, ali'd consequently thel pressure in the header 24', falls'to a certain point the compressor :motor is and the compressor'stopped.

In the o eration of the cabinet, the Walls of the 'foo chambers become frosted as a result of the freezing of atmospheric moisture deposited thereon-and incase* theiuse resultant lowering of f automatically disconnected to the bottom of the food chambers. The

amounts of ice cream or the like which may4 be split in tlieiood chambers, and prevents the liquid from contacting with the heatinsiilating bottom wall of the cabinet and causing deterioration thereof.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment' of my invention, it will be understood that there can be wide variation from the construction disclosed without departing from the invention, the scope 'of the invention -being defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is l. In a refrigerated cabinet, the combination'of a frame and casing structure formed with top, bottom andside walls and with an opening in its top wall to receive food and theilike; and a brine tank disposed inysaid casing structure and supported on the bottom wall thereof, said tank comprising bottoni and side walls of sheet metal and an upright impertorate metal sleeve connected at its lower end to the edges of a correspondingly shaped opening in the bottom Wall of the tank so as to form a chamber for food and the like registering with the opening .in

' nation ot'V a. traine and casing structure formed with' top, bottom and side walls and with an-opening in its top wall to .receive lood or the like, and a brine tank disposed in said casing structure and supported on the bott-oni wall thereof, said tank having top, bottoni and side walls of sheet metal and an upright sheet metal sleeve connected at its upper and lower ends to the edges of correspondingly shaped openings in the top and bottom walls of the tank so as to with an opening in its to forni a cliaiiibei for iood or the like registering with the opening in the top wall of the casing; whereby' the weight and impact of food or the like introduced into said chamber to be cooled by the surrounding brine is sustained by the bottoni wall of the casing structure. and not by the tank.

3. In a referigerated cabinet, the combination' ot a frame and casing structure, formed with top, bottom and side walls and wall to receive food or the like, and a brine tank disposed in said casing structure and supported on the bottoni wall thereof, said tank having vmetal pan underlying sai an upright sheet metal sleeve connected at its lower end to the edge of a correspondingly shaped opening in the bottom wall of the tank so as tov form a chamber for food or the like registering with the opening in the top wall of the casing; and a buffer pla-te resting on the bottom wall of the casing structure beneath said chamber; whereby the weight and impact of food o'r the like introdiiced into said chamber to be cooled by the surrounding brine is sustained by the bottom wall of the casin structure and sai buer plate and not by t e-tank.

4. In a 'refrigerated cabinet, the combination of a frame and casing structure formed with top, bottoni and side walls and with a plurality of openings in its top wall to receive food or the like, a brine tank disposed in said casing structure, saidtank having bottom and side walls of sheet metal and a plurality'of upright sheet metal sleeves connected at their lower ends to the edges of correspondingly shapedopenings in' the bottom wall of the tank so as to formfa plurality ot' chambers for food and the like registerlng with the said openings inthe top Wall of. the casing, a shallow metal pan underlying said tank and supported by the bottom Wall of the casing and individual buffer plates, in the bottoms of said food chambers supported byj said metal pan; whereby the weight and impact of food or the like introduced into said chambers to be cooled is sustained by said metal plates and the bottom wall of the casing structure and not by the tank.

5. In a refrigerated cabinet, the combination of a frame and casing structure,- ormed with top, bottom and side walls and with an opening in its top wallto .receive food or the like, and a brinc tank disposed in said casing structure and supported on the bottom wall thereof, said tank having bottom and side Walls of sheet metal and' bottom and side walls of sheet metal and Y an upright sheet metal sleeve connected .at

its lower end to the edge of a correspondingly shaped opening in the bottom wall of the tank so as to form a chamber for food or the like registering with, the openin' in the -top wall of the casin and a-sha low tank and supported by the bottom Wall of the casing, said pan being adapted to catch and hold water resultingjrom the defrosting of the food chamber walls or other substances accidentally spilled in the food chamber.

In testimony whereof7 I hereunto aiiix my signature.

JOHN R. REPLOGLE. 

